I love sketching in stockholm; it is a beautiful city with lots of charming views. But I don’t just look for the pretty spots, I love sketching the everyday stuff too—ordinary life. We live in Midsommarkransen, with a great view over neighboring Aspudden, so these two old suburbs are recurring subjects in my sketchbooks. I try out as many different techniques as I can, drawing the same subject over and over.
I like that time has left such clear traces in these old suburbs, unlike newer areas that were built all in one go. Building started here around 1910, and both Aspudden and Midsommarkransen were designed as smaller versions of the inner city, usually with three-story stone buildings in blocks, with stores, kiosks and services at street level. These old buildings still form the hearts of these suburbs, and are fun to sketch, with some quirky angles and neat details.
In the 1930s the telephone company LM Ericsson built their main factory in Midsommarkransen, along with three-story, functional apartment buildings for their workers. The architecture in these streets is so different to the original 1910 buildings! The houses make a bit of a shoebox impression at first, but embedded in greenery, the whole area is still a calm and beautiful oasis.
In the 1960s the subway reached Aspudden and Midsommarkransen, and the area has kept evolving ever since. Taking a walk through these suburbs you see buildings from every decade of the twentieth century, from small villas to huge apartment buildings. There is more than a hundred years of history in the architecture here, and I love the mix of it all.
MIDSOMMARKRANSEN OLDIES
Stockholm
SERGELGATAN
Stockholm
THE PLATFORM OF SALTSJÖBANAN AT SLUSSEN
Stockholm
ASPUDDEN VIEW
Penandwc, Stockholm